Tom Harris, also known as The Hill Country Gardener, is a Master Gardener certified by the State of Texas, a Master Pruner certified by the San Antonio Botanical Garden, and a founder and volunteer for the Gardening Volunteers of South Texas (GVST).

Note: This is an mySA.com City Brights Blog. These blogs are not written or edited by mySA or the San Antonio Express-News. The authors are solely responsible for the content.

Fruit Tree Seminar

Last Saturday I attended a fruit tree seminar put on at The Garden Center nursery on Bandera Road in San Antonio by the Texas AgriLIFE Extension Office. The presenter was David Rodriguez, the horticulture agent. David had a handout which listed all the fruit varieties that will do well in this area. I expounded on the list a little and came up with a good handout for those of you interested in growing fruit trees or bushes in the back yard. If you’d like a copy of the handout, just write me at gardener@gvtc.com and I’ll get it right out to you. BUT, if you don’t have full sunshine all day every day, don’t bother because you’re going to be disappointed in the results. Even blackberries need full sun to do well and they’re about the easiest fruit to grow around here.

David is doing several more of these seminars this month and next. To get a copy of the list of his presentations, write to Angel Torres at MATorres@ag.tamu.edu at the Extension Office in San Antonio. Tell her I told you to write, please.

Speaking of classes, the GVST Essentials of Gardening classes will be starting next Monday at The Garden Center at the corner of Funston and New Braunfels; starts at noon and goes to about 3:15-3:30 pm. This week “Mark Peterson with San Antonio Water System will show you how to create a “Colorful Spanish Courtyard”. After Mark, you’ll learn how to install a “do-it-yourself” drip irrigation system from Master Gardener Tom Harris. Free and open to the public. $5 donation requested.

Have your hand tools sharpened for an additional $2 donation per tool. Reservations not required.”

For more information, check www.GardeningVolunteers.org or (210) 251-8101.

January Gardening ain’t for Sissies

Even though the thermometer says that it’s 60+ outside, if you’re out in the wind, it’s cold out there. Be sure to dress appropriately when you go out–in layers so you can peel off a layer or two as you warm up.

Watch the plants you brought indoors for the winter. It’s very easy for snails, slugs and insects to hide in thick foliage. Use appropriate control methods–and be sure to read the labels. Remember that all kinds of outside-critters would like to be in your warm house with you so it’s OK to go ahead and let the pest control guy do his thing this winter, too. Speaking of bringing plants indoors, please don’t set them near heating ducts, radiators, fireplaces or against windows.

The humidity in your house drops some 15-20 percent in the winter time so be sure to give the indoor plants enough water. Keep the soil moist, not sopping wet. Stick your finger into the soil down to the second joint to be sure that it’s dry before you water. The top of the soil will crust over inside the house and you can’t always tell how moist the soil is just by looking. Too much water gets the fungi growing. Don’t want that now, do we? The plants which have been brought in are in a sort of dormant stage while they’re inside. If you put a little compost on them before you brought them in, you won’t need to fertilize them at all until you take them back out next spring. If you didn’t compost them, feed lightly with water soluble fertilizer–about half strength.

If you see mushrooms growing in the yard, it’s OK. They’re a good-fungus living off dead and decomposing stuff in your lawn. You can either ignore them or break them off at the ground level. Don’t eat them. They’re vewwy, vewwey bad for you.

Lawn Maintenance and other Gardening Stuff

January is a good time to aerate your lawn, but it can wait until February, too. If you’re going to rent an aerator, get a couple of neighbors to go in with you on the rental price and do 2-3 lawns at the same time. Be sure to rent the type that cuts the small plugs out of the soil. It leaves a hole about ½ inch in diameter and 2 inches deep so that air and water can get to the roots of the grass plants.

This is a good time to move those shrubs and other plants that really don’t fit where you thought they would last spring/summer. Most of them are dormant now and can be moved without damage.

First dig the new hole where the plant will go. Then dig up the plant and be sure to get as much of the root ball as you can. If it’s too heavy to move, wash the dirt off and plant it bare-rooted. Spread the roots out in the hole and start putting the dirt back in the hole. You don’t have to add anything to the dirt but may add maybe 10-15% compost if you have it. Plant it immediately so the roots don’t dry out. Water it in really well to remove any air bubbles. Add root stimulator at this time if you have it. You only need to add it once…it’s not a fertilizer. Don’t put any fertilizer in just yet. It’s not time to do that.

If you have a bird house, especially a purple martin house, it’s time to get it cleaned out to have it ready for the scouts who arrive around the first of February.

Veggies

If you have a greenhouse or something similar, it’s time to plant tomato and/or pepper seeds. Doing it now gives you about 6-8 weeks to get them big enough to put in the garden.

If you pluck or cut individual leaves from lettuce or spinach, they will continue to produce into late spring.

String-mow your Elbon rye and vetch and till it into the garden by the end of January.

Side dress actively growing vegetables at the rate of one cup of slow-release lawn fertilizer or two cups organic fertilizer per 10 feet of row. Use two cups for leafy vegetables and onions.

You may want to plant some potatoes this month. Dig a trench about a foot deep and place potato pieces with one or more eyes every 2 feet. Fill the trench half way with good, loose soil and keep filling as the stems emerge leaving about 2 inches above the soil. Fill until the soil is level again.